“Buenos días, Aguilas!” In English, that means “good morning, Eagles!” a phrase familiar to every East Meck student. These three words are the opening line to the daily news broadcast. Now the fun, helpful videos about all things East Meck are also produced in Spanish!
The idea began with Frieda Ibarra’s Spanish for Native Speakers class. Many students shared the need for information about school events to be available in Spanish.
Ibarra worked with media corrdinator Robin Williams to bring the idea to life. Williams teaches a television production classs where she helps students produce the news videos that are played during homeroom every day.
Originally, the idea was to add Spanish translations to the English broadcast.
“The problem was, if we did a five minute show all in English,” Williams said, “and we translated each announcement to Spanish, the news would be really long. We would probably lose both audiences.”
Junior Any Izuela Chicas has the solution. Izuela Chicas, who was initally supposed to be in the producation class but couldn’t due to scheduling issues, proposed that they record a separate all-Spanish broadcast during her free third block, when other Spanish for Native Speakers students could come to the library to participate. Ms. Williams was all for it.
“It just worked out,” said Williams.
Ibarra knew just the right students for the job: sophomore Jefferson Hernandez and senior Ruben Franco.
“I thought of them when imagining a kind and caring face on the news who also had a desire to see information about our school shared in Spanish,” Ibaraa said. “It just happened that I had Ruben and Jefferson in my class at a time when it made sense to work with Ms. Williams to set up the news.”
Now Izuels Chicas, Hernandez and Franco meet in the library every day to record the Spanish news. Izuels Chicas and Franco read the announcements while Hernandez works behind the camera, doing sound.
They practice reading through the announcements in Spanish set everything up in the studio room, and record.
Now they are able to read directly in Spanish, but that wasn’t always the case.
“When we first created a Spanish broadcast,” Izuela Chicas said, “we had to translate in the same moment. The screen [from which we would read anouncements] was in English. That was really tough.”
Izuela Chicas’s passion for this project comes from personal experiences as a native Spanish speaker.
“I remember my freshman year, it was really weird,” Izuela Chicas said, “because we didn’t know have any information in Spanish. We had to go to Ms. Ibarra and she would give information, but it was really tough to not know the opportunities that we had.”
Hernandez shared a similar experiecne with thhe previous English-only broadcast.
“A lot of people don’t understand what they’re saying,” Hernandez said.
Williams believes that the news plays an important role in a students’ ability to be active in the school environment.
“If they can’t understand what’s happening,” Williams said, “and if they don’t understand who the homecoming king and queen are, or what club is meeting when, then how do they get involved?”
Ibarra agrees on the importance of the news to Spanish-speaking students.
“With East Meck being the second most diverse high school in all North Carolina,” Ibarra said, “and with over 40% of East Meck’s students being Hispanic/Latine, … sharing the news in Spanish is a small but wonderful way of representing and celebrating some of the diversity in our community.”
Just like with the English news, there aee some obstacles to recording.
“When you record, you are trying to look natural, so it’s hard to feel comfortable,” Izuela Chicas said.
Despite the challenges, the positive effect of the broadcast are clear.
“Because of the news, I signed up for the Spanish Honor Society and CPCC,” Izuela Chicas said.
Ibaraa sees a similar impact in and out of her classroom.
“My students who are learning English find it useful in order to understand … all the comings and goings of a school that is bustling with opportunities.”
